Multinational - West African Monetary Zone Payment System Development Project (The Gambia, Guinea and Sierra Leone)

The project aims to improve the basic infrastructure of the financial sector in the West African Monetary Zone (WAMZ) region through the upgrade of the payment systems of four countries in the zone: The Gambia, Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Liberia. At the time the WAMZ Payments System Development Project was designed in 2008, Liberia, was not ready to participate owing to other priorities of post-conflict Rehabilitation. Since Liberia acceded as a member of the WAMZ in February 2010, the supplementary grant facility aims to extend the implementation of the WAMZ Payments System Development Project to Liberia. The project comprises the following key components: (i) Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS); (ii) Retail Payments Automation (RPA); (iii) Central Banking Application (CBA); (iv) Infrastructure Upgrade; and (v) Project management. Expected project outcomes include increased participation of the private sector businesses, and the citizens of The Gambia, Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Liberia in the formal financial sector, and enhanced efficiency of funds transfers across the four WAMZ member states.